With awards season in full swing, Grindr decided to toss its jimmy hat into the ring with its Best of 2012 Awards, celebrating the year’s most influential gay icons and trendsetters, as voted on by Grindees all over the world.

“Grindr guys are always at the forefront of what’s trending and impacting gay culture,” said Joel Simkhai, Founder and CEO of Grindr. “With their fingers on the pulse on what’s important and impressing them the most, our guys are watching Modern Family, getting their gossip from TMZ and rocking out to ‘Call Me Maybe.’ In addition, they’ve chosen some significant gay icons from 2012, including Anderson Cooper and Orlando Cruz for his famous and inspirational coming-out story.”

Okay, maybe “at the forefront” is a bit of a stretch, but the national winners of the Best of 2012 Awards are at least at the foreground of mainstream gay culture:

Grindr also surveyed guys in ten major US cities with traditionally large gay populations on topics such as their favorite local hangouts, best places for a first date and favorite drag queens. Noticeably absent is “Best places for a NSA hookup”, but we guess “Gym with the hottest guys” is close enough: